Microscan Announces World's First Fully Integrated Liquid Lens Barcode Imager

Microscan, a global technology leader for precision data acquisition and control solutions, premiers the QX Hawk, the world's first barcode imager to be fully integrated with liquid lens technology, enabling infinite focus flexibility. The QX Hawk imager easily reads any barcode or 2D symbol, including challenging 2D direct part marks (DPM), within seconds of installation.

With the introduction of the QX Hawk fixed-mount imager, Microscan now has the largest product line available of specialty imagers and verifiers focused on direct part mark reading. The revolutionary QX Hawk is the first high performance imager to have the full flexibility to read any mark at any distance and speed in any environment, and the first to fully integrate liquid lens technology. Advanced imagingt echnology, including liquid lens autofocus and modular zoom optics, removes the need for automation engineers to research multiple configuration options before deployment.

"By integrating the liquid lens directly into our QX Hawk, the performance advantage is tremendous and the capacity to focus at any distance is infinite," explains Bruce Scharf, Microscan's Vice President of Engineering. "Other products in the market today use liquid lens technology as an optional accessory to change focus, but at the expense of increased spherical aberration, or image distortion. Microscan's liquid lens is deeply embedded within the imaging system of QX Hawk and the optics assembly was designed around a liquid lens to allow the entire imaging system to be optimized, not just focus."

The ultra-compact, high performance imager with next generation capabilities uses Microscan's latest decoding technology to read any mark at distances from 50 to 500 mm and beyond, from a high density 3.3 mil Data Matrix to a very large linear code to a low-contrast DPM. The QX Hawk features a high resolution modular optical zoom system that, when combined with liquid lens focus control, enables a single reader to cover almost any ID application.

In addition to its compact size for flexible positioning, the QX Hawk includes visible LED indicators, targeting laser pattern, "good read" green flash, and an EZ button for instant setup and configuration.

Setting up a QX Hawk is almost as easy as using a point-and-shoot digital camera. Simply mount the system and press the EZ button, and it will find any code at any distance within its field of view.

According to Andy Zosel, Microscan's Director of Product Marketing, "The QX Hawk bridges the gap between ease of use and performance.

Traditionally, the only options for code readers with integrated optics were limited in performance and conversely the high performance readers required external CMount optics and extra illumination."

As a further benefit, the QX Hawk leverages the latest dual core ARM/DSP processor and integrated Ethernet protocols to allow high speed image capture as well as real-time configuration and communication, providing the fastest throughput of any product.

For more information on Microscan's QX Hawk, visit www.microscan.com.

About Microscan
Microscan is a global leader in technology for precision data acquisition and control solutions serving a wide range of automation and OEM applications. Founded in 1982, Microscan has a strong history of technology innovation that includes the invention of the first laser diode barcode scanner and the 2D symbology, Data Matrix. Today, Microscan remains a technology leader in automatic identification and machine vision with extensive solutions for ID tracking, traceability and inspection ranging from basic barcode reading up to complex machine vision inspection, gauging, and measurement.

As an ISO 9001:2000 certified company recognized for quality leadership in the U.S., Microscan is known and trusted by customers worldwide as a provider of quality, high precision products. Microscan is a Spectris company. For more information, visit www.microscan.com.

SOURCE: Microscan